EVOLUTION OF PLASMODIUM VIVAX AND ASIAN MACAQUE MALARIAS

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 间日疟原虫是亚洲和中南美洲一些地区最流行的人类疟疾寄生虫。系统发育研究表明，间日疟原虫和其他疟原虫属。目前在东南亚猕猴中发现的是一个单系群的一部分，间日疟原虫起源于一种人类寄生虫，这是宿主切换的结果。这项拟议的调查旨在了解间日疟原虫及其在东南亚猕猴中已知的姐妹分类群的进化史。了解猕猴疟疾的进化史很重要，因为其中一些寄生虫可以感染人类。总体而言，拟议的研究旨在了解正选择在间日疟原虫和相关物种的红细胞入侵期间表达的蛋白质进化中的作用。这是寄生虫生命周期中的关键一步。其中几种蛋白质被认为是疟疾疫苗的靶标。然而，积极选择的虚假证据可能是人口统计过程(如人口增长和人口结构)造成的。因此，我们建议评估间日疟原虫和猕猴疟原虫的人口学历史，使用广泛的地理抽样来了解假定的适应性变异的进化。我们刚刚开始这个为期4年的项目的第二年，已经在龙目岛和新加坡广泛地采集了猕猴的样本。目前正在计划将研究扩展到柬埔寨，那里灵长类动物和人类的疟疾生态特征很差。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Plasmodium vivax is the most prevalent human malarial parasite in several areas of Asia and South-Central America. Phylogenetic studies have shown that P. vivax and other Plasmodium spp. currently found in Southeast Asian macaques are part of a monophyletic group from which P. vivax originated as a human parasite as a result of a host switch. The proposed investigation seeks to understand the evolutionary history of P. vivax together with its known sister taxa in Southeast Asian macaques. Understanding the evolutionary history of macaque malarias is important because some of these parasites can infect humans. Overall, the proposed investigation aims to understand the role of positive selection in the evolution of proteins expressed during erythrocyte invasion in P. vivax and related species. This is a critical step in the parasite life cycle. Several of these proteins are considered targets for malaria vaccines. Spurious evidence of positive selection, however, could result from demographic processes (such as population growth and population structure). Thus we propose to assess the demographic histories of P. vivax and macaque Plasmodium spp., using extensive geographic sampling to understand the evolution of putative adaptive variation. We are just beginning the 2nd year of this 4 year project and have sampled macaques extensively in Lombok and Singapore. Plans are underway to expand the research into Cambodia where the malaria ecology of the primates and humans is poorly characterized.